Student Accomplishments and Community

UChicago Graduates Win Rhodes, Marshall Scholarships

Two recent graduates were awarded prestigious academic scholarships for study in the United Kingdom. Stephanie Bell, AB’08, received a Rhodes Scholarship, which she will use to pursue an MPhil in development studies at the University of Oxford. Her goal is to help in the global fight for social justice, particularly for Africa and people with HIV/AIDS. Amol Naik, AB’09, was offered a Marshall Scholarship. He will study at the London School of Economics for an MSc in both the history of international relations and in human rights. Naik is interested in reform of the U.S. criminal justice system.

Third-Year Named Truman Scholar

Greg Nance, a third-year political science major who founded a financial literacy program, was named a 2010 Harry S. Truman scholar. In fall 2008, Nance cofounded Moneythink to teach financial literacy skills to urban high school students. During the scholarship application process, Nance presented a policy proposal on putting financial literacy programs in every public school in America. He is one of 60 socially committed college juniors from around the United States to earn the award this year.

Music Grad Wins Gates Cambridge Scholarship

Anne Heminger, AB’08, was among 29 U.S. students named 2010 Gates Cambridge scholars. The competitive award funds graduate study at the University of Cambridge, England. Heminger, who graduated with honors in music, will study for an MPhil degree in musicology. She wrote her UChicago honors thesis on the role that hymns played in the acceptance of the Reformation in Riga, Latvia, in the 16th century and plans to build on this research at Cambridge. Heminger is the 10th UChicago student to be awarded a Gates Cambridge scholarship in the program’s 10 years.

Mathematics Prize Goes to UChicago’s Hannah Alpert

The Association for Women in Mathematics named Hannah Alpert, a third-year mathematics major, a co-winner of the 2010 Alice T. Schafer Prize for excellence in mathematics by an undergraduate woman. “Alpert’s mentors paint a consistent picture of a remarkably mature, young mathematician, one who is a creative problem-solver with a ‘formidable talent,’” noted her Schafer Prize citation. Earlier in the year, Alpert received a Barry M. Goldwater scholarship for her achievements and potential in mathematics.

Christian Kammerer received the Alfred Sherwood Romer Prize, presented by the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, for outstanding PhD research. Kammerer, a student in the Committee on Evolutionary Biology, received the prize for his presentation, “The Effects of Mass Extinctions on Synapsid Disparity over Time.” He is the third UChicago student in a row to receive the honor and the sixth UChicago recipient since 2001. Last year’s winner, Joshua Miller, also an evolutionary biology student, received the 2008 prize for his presentation, “Taphonomy of Temperate Large-Mammal Death Assemblages: A Live-Dead Analysis of Yellowstone National Park.”

UChicago Takes First in Competitive Model UN Conference

The University of Chicago Model United Nations team took first place at the Harvard National Model United Nations competition, and 23 out of 28 delegates won individual awards. Harvard’s event is “the biggest and most competitive Model UN Conference in the world,” according to team president and fourth-year student Blake Rachowin. More than 3,000 students and faculty members from colleges and universities all over the world attended the competition to play the role of delegates from countries in the United Nations. The majority of UChicago’s delegates represented the People’s Republic of China.

Law Students Help See Case to Supreme Court

Current and former Law School students were on hand at the Supreme Court of the United States in October to hear oral arguments on a case they had been working on for months as part of the Civil Rights Project of the Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic. Through the spring and summer, the team of seven students had assisted co-counsel Craig Futterman, Clinical Professor of Law, and attorney Tom Peters prepare to argue the plaintiffs’ case in front of the nine Justices. “It is a once in a lifetime experience for students to see and be a part of making the law for the entire nation,” said Futterman.

Computer Programming Team Again Advances to World Finals

For the second year in a row, a team of three University of Chicago undergraduates qualified for the World Finals of the International Collegiate Programming Contest. The team, called Works in Theory, placed second in the regional contest, allowing them to qualify for the 2010 World Finals in Harbin, China. Only 100 teams out of 7,000 from more than 1,800 universities in 88 countries earned this distinction. The contest, organized by the Association for Computing Machinery, tests competitors’ skills in solving computer-programming problems.

Student Advocates for Climate Treaty in Copenhagen

Kyle Gracey, a dual master’s student in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies and the Division of the Physical Sciences, was chosen to attend the December United Nations Climate Change Negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark. He and 26 other youth leaders from the United States were selected for the honor by the SustainUS Agents of Change program, which was designed to facilitate youth involvement in international policy-making and to spur advocacy for a clean energy future. “We will be making people aware of both the benefits of joining a climate agreement and the costs of not being involved,” said Gracey.

University’s Peace Corps Volunteerism Earns Top-10 Spot

For the 10th year in a row, the University has earned a spot as one of the nation’s top-ranked schools for producing Peace Corps volunteers. With 30 College alumni currently serving as volunteers, Chicago ranked eighth on the Peace Corps’ annual list of medium-sized schools. “It speaks to our commitment to service,” said Wallace Goode, director of the University Community Service Center and associate dean of students in the University. Since the Peace Corps’ inception, 694 Chicago alumni have volunteered.

Students Garner Prestigious International Study Awards

Eighteen undergraduates and 33 graduates were selected to study and conduct research in nearly 30 countries, from Albania to Tanzania, during the 2010–11 academic year. Ten College students received Fulbright U.S. Student Program fellowships, while eight undergraduates received six National Security Education Program Boren Scholarships for International Study and two DAAD German Academic Exchange Program Study scholarships. Eighteen graduate students won Fulbright U.S. Student Program graduate fellowships, and 13 were named Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellows. Two students also won 2010–11 National Security Education Program Boren graduate fellowships.

Student Groups Host Conference on China’s Growth

Members of the student-run Chicago Society hosted “China and the Future of the Global Economy” on campus. The conference featured Justin Yifu Lin, PhD’86, chief economist of the World Bank. Lin joined other leading academic experts, policy-makers, and business leaders to discuss China’s growth and impact on global financial markets. The event was co-hosted by two other student organizations, Culture and Career Club and Moneythink.

UChicago Athletes Post Outstanding Year

Third-year Chrissy Hu and second-year Kendra Higgins won their second consecutive national doubles title at the NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championship in May. They became the seventh tandem in Division III history to record back-to-back national titles.

The women’s indoor track and field team captured fourth place at the NCAADivision III Championship. The team became the sixth in school history to post a top-four finish in NCAA Division III competition. Fourth-year Nicole Murphy and third-year Liz Lawton earned All-America recognition with respective fourth-place finishes in the shot put and 5,000-meter run.

Third-year Liz Lawton won two national titles at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She led the field in both the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs, becoming only the second UChicago athlete to capture multiple individual titles in the same year.